Major sucess with higher calories!

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  • jaabee11
    jaabee11 Posts: 322 Member
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    Thank you , this is great. I'm going to get onto this. Your a good guy Dan, looks like you've been helping out a lot.
    Hello! These are very exciting posts!! My question is, how do you determine what calorie range you should be eating each day?

    Go to Fat to Fit tools and do the Military Body Fat Calc THEN the BMR tool.

    The BMR tool will give you EXACT calories to eat daily determined by your activity level.
    Add 20% to this number to figure out your TDEE.

    So by knowing:

    TDEE
    BMR
    Body Fat

    Youll be able to manipulate any diet you use to lose/gain weight.

    And for the "I cant wrap my head around how this works..."

    I'll give you a 20 year old car with 1/8th tank of gas and a drop of oil.
    Now drive 200 miles!
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Dumb question...but what is VLCD?

    I believe it stand for very low calorie diet. And helloitsdan is a member here on the boards. :smile:
  • pamelapeldo
    pamelapeldo Posts: 47 Member
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    bump
  • pinkita
    pinkita Posts: 779 Member
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    bump
  • Jennyisbusy
    Jennyisbusy Posts: 1,294 Member
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    I am REALLY excited. I got out my old data, (last spring and summer) and looked for months with big losses or gains and compared that to food diaries of roughly the time frame that I thought should be appropriate.

    *Last June I lost 6 lbs and a good many of those days were around the 1900ish calorie range with a couple of 2200ish highs thrown in!
    *In September I lost 5 lbs and there were 3 days where I ate over 3000cals, I had a few in the 1200ish and a lot in the 1900ish range.
    **and for the grand finale-- In May I buckled down and stay very low calorie all month long and gained 1 pound!!!

    (why couldn't I see this then? I think I probably spanked myself for those higher days thinking I had ruined everything)
  • CMD76
    CMD76 Posts: 19 Member
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    Congratulations and thanks for sharing your story.
  • diggly
    diggly Posts: 29 Member
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    Hmmm.. I must be a real anamoly then. I lost weight MORE when I was on a VLCD. I'm now on 1600 to 1800 a day (net above 1300) and losing consistently but much slower than before. Granted I'm down to my last few pounds before GW but still... *shrug*
  • pattan59801
    pattan59801 Posts: 142
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    VLCD??????????
  • iwannablean
    iwannablean Posts: 28 Member
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    Congratulations on your success! I went through your exercise diary to see what kind of work outs you do, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that you have been walking a lot! I love walking! I am planning to ditch the gym and start walking more and maybe even try running! I am so glad to see that it worked for you, which goes against what some people have been telling me--only walking as an exercise won't show me striking weight loss results! :D Best luck to you in your journey ahead! :D
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    That's awesome! It's a mind-game because eating more calories - isn't that what got us here in the first place? I have had slow but good success since Jan 1 (10 lbs) but that's on the 1200. But how long can I sustain this? I am just starting to work out now, and am hungry! Think I will up my calories and give it a try! Thanks for the info!

    You can go to MFP Tools - BMR calculator.
    If you are eating below that, especially netting below that, constantly, you'll stall or just burn off muscle.

    At least if you are hungry, you haven't lowered your BMR more yet.

    There is an easier way, Dan and I are both firm believers in never netting below your estimated healthy BMR on avg.

    If you have decent estimates of calorie burn, and don't mind eating different amounts each day, you can use MFP with tweaks for safety.

    Or, if you would rather just eat at the same level every day, and what you would eat at when you reach goal weight, I was asked to create a group and I made a spreadsheet to allow you to run your own numbers with much better accuracy than 4 wide levels of daily activity give you.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method
  • bakingmadness
    bakingmadness Posts: 70 Member
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    I just calculated my numbers on the website and I am customizing my MFP goals now and will start this tomorrow. It's worth a try!
  • luvmydog2
    luvmydog2 Posts: 243 Member
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    Bump !
  • AmberFaith90
    AmberFaith90 Posts: 904 Member
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    I'll have to keep this in mind for when my weight loss starts to slow down! I started my weight loss journey not very safe. I was consuming about 600-900 calories for the first two weeks. Yes, I lost weight, but I would go to bed starving. Then I signed up for MFP and upped my calories to 1200. Some days I don't make it, but I try not to stress out too bad. I feel a lot better than I did previously (both before I started my weight loss journey AND when my calories were dangerously low). I guess I can always just have more homemade fruit smoothies ;)

    Thanks so much for sharing!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Hmmm.. I must be a real anamoly then. I lost weight MORE when I was on a VLCD. I'm now on 1600 to 1800 a day (net above 1300) and losing consistently but much slower than before. Granted I'm down to my last few pounds before GW but still... *shrug*

    Considering 1 lb of muscle only contains 600 calories compared to 3500 cal in a lb of fat, it is easy to lose "weight" with VLCD because you end up burning off muscle.

    Glad you raised the level back up safely. That's usually the kicker.
  • luvmydog2
    luvmydog2 Posts: 243 Member
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    :smile: Yes i am on higher calories and my friends are passing me , but my dietician told me ...the longer it takes to loose my weight ....I have a better chance of keeping it off .
    I have lost and gained 4 times in my life time and always yo yoed back . This time i want to stay the way i was meant to be and keep healthy
    Watching people on less than 1200 cal a day ...scares me some what .
    I dont look at other peoples diary now ...for that reason .
  • Tempe729
    Tempe729 Posts: 270 Member
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    That's awesome! It's a mind-game because eating more calories - isn't that what got us here in the first place? I have had slow but good success since Jan 1 (10 lbs) but that's on the 1200. But how long can I sustain this? I am just starting to work out now, and am hungry! Think I will up my calories and give it a try! Thanks for the info!

    I actually used to eat an easy 2000 calories a day before joining MFP in early January. I have my daily cal-intake at 1400 and I've actually lost 20pounds (15lbs are since I joined MFP) within 2 months and several inches. I think it depends on your body type and exercise level too.
  • pattan59801
    pattan59801 Posts: 142
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    So if MFP sets my calories at say 1900 and I go to the gym and burn 2200 cals I an supposed to eat 4100 cals for that day????? that sounds crazy! and please some one tel me calorie deficit is
  • jj3120
    jj3120 Posts: 358
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    Add me to the list - I had my numbers ran by Helloitsdan on the 18th Feb, and I went from 1200 to 1750.

    I thought - HUH???? I'm just about 5ft, how am I going to lose weight on that many calories?

    But I was prepared to give it a go, and I am so glad I did. in 3 weeks I have lost over 5lb, but I am more excited about the inches off my waist.

    Apparently your body needs fats to burn fat.

    According to MFP I should be maintaining at this level of calories.

    That's good to know I'm 5ft 0 as well and have been thinking about going over 1430 mfp calories.

    I always eat back my calories but I've always worry because I'm short about going any higher.
  • Elleinnz
    Elleinnz Posts: 1,661 Member
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    Love, love this post - great job - so happy for you, and thanks for sharing!!
  • Trinketona
    Trinketona Posts: 190
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    I was consuming only 1340 calories wasnt losing an inch. It was so discouraging because I was working out almost everyday and nothing was coming off. Well I also contacted Helloitsdan and he helped me with my calories. He said to up them to 1800 I also thought it was crazy. It took a while for any weightloss to show but finally dropping the pounds. I have lost 10 pounds and I also started on the first of January. Excited to see what will happen from now until summer.

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